Health and Wellness
In Conversations with God, Book 1, we learn that “…all illness is self-created. Even conventional medical doctors are now seeing how people make themselves sick.”
Let’s look at what you need to do in order to get healthy, stay healthy, and stop making yourself sick.
There are three basic steps you have to take for stellar holistic health. If you are vigilant and careful, you can improve your own health, reduce occurrence of illness, heal yourself, and start feeling great! First you must cleanse and detoxify your body, inside and outside. Get rid of the toxins that are hanging around in your intestines, clogging your arteries, wearing out your organs, and causing symptoms. You must also detoxify your mind, thoughts and relationships. Second, you must learn to avoid toxins in everything possible from food, beauty products, air, water, household cleaners, emotions, and thoughts. Finally, you must nourish your body with good, clean, whole food and subject your body to nutrient-dense foods, exercise, positive thoughts, actions, and activities.
Today we will look at avoiding toxins in your food and environment.
There is no way to completely prevent toxins from entering our system through food, air, water, environment, and thoughts. If we aren’t careful, we will ingest large numbers and amounts of toxins that will build up and make us unhealthy or diseased.
Food
First of all, learn what is actually in the food you are eating. Processed foods contain many chemicals and synthetic substances used to flavor, color, preserve, or even make you addicted. Sugar is hidden in products you would never suspect, such as tomatoes or beans, toothpaste, ketchup, and canned fruit. Excitotoxins are regularly added to foods to make you crave them or continue eating them after you are full. Oils are partially hydrogenated, which causes trans fats to form. Big agricultural farms douse your produce liberally with pesticides and herbicides, and worse yet use GMO seeds.
The best way to avoid toxins in your food is to increase the amount of food preparation and cooking you do at home for yourself. When you go to a restaurant, you don’t know what kind of oil in which the food is cooked, whether the ingredients are organic, or what additives have been included. Stop buying processed foods when at all possible. Processed foods are anything that is pre-prepared, or in a box or bag at the grocery store. I consider deli and restaurant food “processed” as well because they are constructed from processed ingredients instead of homemade ones. It’s pretty safe to assume that anything that has a commercial on TV is a processed food.
Stop drinking bottled beverages, sodas and diet sodas, or restaurant offerings of tea or coffee, and just drink water. Carry a water bottle with you at all times and drink water all day long. You will flush out your system and prevent new toxins from entering your system. As a bonus, you will save a lot of money.
When eating animal products, know where it came from and how they were farmed. Big farms use antibiotics and a host of chemicals to promote growth and appetite, and the animals are processed in horrible conditions. Check that fish hasn’t come from an area that is known to be contaminated. Environmental groups recommend that you avoid Atlantic halibut, king mackerel, sea bass, shark, swordfish, tuna, and farmed salmon among others.
Environment
Your skin is the largest organ in your body and anything that touches your skin is absorbed into your system. In order to avoid toxins in the future, be aware of what household products you use to clean, such as bathroom, oven, drain, and detergent cleaners. Even many “green” products contain toxic substances. Some of the most damaging chemicals are in fragrances which don’t legally have to be identified as anything except “Fragrance.” Many detergents still have phosphates, surfectants, and petroleum-based ingredients which have been shown to cause cancer.
Consider making your own cleaning products from simple ingredients such as baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice, and borax. And again, you will save money!
Surprisingly, you are also exposed to toxins in many health and beauty products like soap, hair products, skin products, makeup, and perfume. Look for ingredients such as synthetic color, DBP, Triclosan, DEA, TEA, metals such as titanium or aluminum, Petrolatum, fragrance, parabens, benzophenone, ceteareth, and more. Don’t buy products with poisons in them. Great guides to find out whether your health and beauty products are toxic can be found on Environmental Working Groups website www.ewg.org.
Before you use a product, ask yourself this question: Would you give this to a baby? If not, then don’t use it on yourself either!
Emotional
Your thoughts, behaviors, and relationships can add to your stress and disease! If you have regular negative thoughts or an involved in toxic relationships, if you repeat destructive behaviors or participate in “office gossip” or triangulation, you are adding negativity to your health bank.
Reduce your own stress and toxicity by replacing your negative thoughts with positive ones. If a negative thought pops into your head, ignore it and move on to the next thought. Or better yet, intentionally replace it with a positive version. Don’t allow yourself to talk about other people or hurt other people even indirectly.
If you identify that you are a negative person or you keep ending up in negative situations or relationship, ask for help from positive family, friends, or seek the help of a counselor. You will be much happier and your health will be better.
What’s Next?
We have examined how to detoxify yourself and how to avoid toxins. Next time, we will look at nourishing yourself with nutrient dense foods, positive thoughts and behaviors.
(Beth Anderson is a certified Holistic Health Coach and founder of the Holistic Health Hotspot in Evansville, Indiana. She is also the author of “The Holistic Diet: Achieve Your Ideal Weight, Be Happy and Healthy for Life.” Beth received her training from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Beth is helping people improve their lives through nutrition and lifestyle education, health coaching, and by helping others to learn to make informed choices. Beth continues to spread understanding of the connection between body, mind, and spirit and encourages all to discern the truth about food, consumer products, environment, and life choices. You can find Beth on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/HolisticHealthHotspot or email her at beth@holistichealthhotspot.com)
Sugar has been around for thousands of years in one form or another. People love sweet tastes and indulging in sugary treats. But there is a huge difference between using raw sugar cane stalks and using the white refined sugar that we are so familiar with. Refined sugar is so processed and concentrated that it doesn’t seem to be a food at all.
Sugar cane contains high concentrations of sucrose and is usually used to make refined sugar. Sugar cane looks like a thick stalk of bamboo, and the sap is stored in the stalk. A harvested stalk of sugar cane will yield 10-15% of its weight in sugar. Sugar cane is burned, harvested, chopped, cleaned, washed, and the juice extracted, filtered, and purified into a juice. The juice is boiled and evaporated into thick syrup, then crystallized, centrifuged, dried, and packaged. This all sounds fine until you take a closer look.
Sugar juice is purified using calcium hydroxide to coagulate particles. Then the clear juice is separated through a carbon sedimentation process before evaporating and boiling to reduce it to about 1/3 of its original volume. Sugar is crystallized by seeding it with sugar grains and mixing it with methylated spirit and glycerine to grow crystals. The crystals are separated by centrifugal force. You would think that the sugar is done now, but it is not. This raw sugar is then melted before refining into syrup, washing, and clarifying it with phosphoric acid and more calcium hydroxide. Then it is concentrated further by boiling again, and making white crystals. This all sounds like a science experiment to me, not a food preparation!
Ten pounds of sugar cane goes into one pound of white sugar. After processing and refining the sugar cane, there are no vitamins, minerals, or nutrients left in it. The extreme concentration of sugar causes huge spikes in your blood sugar – first by making it rise abnormally high and then by causing a large drop. This is why you might experience all kinds of health symptoms from eating sugar from hyperactivity, headaches, mood swings, depression, and fatigue. Concentrated sugar triggers the same part of the brain that is stimulated by addictive drugs. Sugar also causes diabetes, obesity, binge-eating, and fuels chronic inflammation and disease. Why do this to yourself?
Just for today, try to replace sugar with a natural non-chemical sweetener. I recommend honey, agave nectar, stevia, date sugar or coconut sugar! Once you switch to natural sweeteners, your taste buds will readjust and you will enjoy the natural flavors instead of the intense concentrated sugary taste.
(Beth Anderson is a certified Holistic Health Coach and founder of the Holistic Health Hotspot in Evansville, Indiana. She is also the author of “The Holistic Diet: Achieve Your Ideal Weight, Be Happy and Healthy for Life.” Beth received her training from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Beth is helping people improve their lives through nutrition and lifestyle education, health coaching, and by helping others to learn to make informed choices. Beth continues to spread understanding of the connection between body, mind, and spirit and encourages all to discern the truth about food, consumer products, environment, and life choices. You can find Beth on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/HolisticHealthHotspot or email her at beth@holistichealthhotspot.com)
Regularly, I receive letters from people facing all sorts of life challenges. I am always inspired by those who have the courage to step outside of their comfort zone and reach out for help. In many cases, it is simply an act of love that drives them to look for solutions. For example, I receive letters from caring parents wanting to help guide their children who have lost their way. I was touched by a recent one and wanted to share our interaction. Of course, I have not included any personal information. These kinds of interactions are, unfortunately, very common, especially for those parents who deal with children that have become addicted. It is addiction that has become far too common and the subject of this week’s column.
Dear JR,
My two youngest children are addicted to opiates. I’ve known for two years about my son, who is in his twenties. Now I have just found out about my daughter’s addiction. She is 19. My son has been in treatment and 12-step programs and was sober, but now is using again. My daughter has been actively using now for about 6 months. She’s asking for help, wants to detox, as she has hopes of getting a job soon. I can’t say that 12 steps and counseling has “worked” for my son, and I can’t imagine how a forced 5-day medically monitored detox could cure my daughter. I’ve been reading Neale Donald Walsch’s books and the CwG Foundation newsletter for several months now. I read last week, “From the Director’s Chair” and see that you do this type of work, addiction counseling. Can you make any suggestions? Thanks – Susan
Hello Susan,
Thank you for your note. I feel the obvious care and concern you have for your children; no doubt with good reason. You may or may not be aware, addiction is the number one killer in America. Unfortunately, each year, more people die from pharmaceutical drugs than illicit drugs…an epidemic that is getting worse, not better. Often, well-intentioned medical professionals are prescribing medication and set into motion or solidify the undetected addict brain. In many cases, all one has to say is something like “I feel depressed,” and out comes the prescription pad. Not that there isn’t a time and place for such intervention and proper uses of medications for the properly diagnosed, but we are quickly becoming a nation of drug addicts.
All drugs have side effects, but for the addict, getting hooked is one of them. Giving drugs as a way to treat drug addicts has never made sense in my world view. There has to be another way. I have looked deeply at this problem, and the solutions offered and available today have little success. The reason is simple: Most do not include a holistic point of view; that is, they do not treat the whole being.
I believe that any treatment of disease, not just the disease of addiction, must have a holistic and natural approach to be successful. One must look for the underlying causes and conditions of addiction and what exists within the world of each addict. Addiction professionals must look not only at the physiology, but also the mental, emotional, and spiritual maladies that will also surely exist.
My goal in working with addicts is to remove all obstacles, real or imagined, that drive the addict to use. This includes all synthetics, as well as any other substances that can cause negative side effects in the human physiology…truly helping each addict to become clean. The chemistry in the addict brain must be managed with the proper intake of substances designed for the health of human beings…only nature provides this. Those who ignore diet for example, miss the terrible impact of things like refined sugars and how sugar negatively impacts brain chemistry and the nervous systems of all humans, not just addicts. What goes in the body affects the whole being, a far too often overlooked but simple remedy for dis-ease.
It is also important to be aware that addiction is a family disease; that is, everyone in the family plays a role in either addiction or recovery. Addiction and addicts themselves can’t survive without two things in place: Either co-dependency or enabling, or both combined, must be present for addiction to survive. Remove these two forms of survival mechanisms of addiction, and you go a long way in creating the space for healing the addiction itself. Said another way, disease can only survive in certain conditions, and the same is true for the disease of addiction.
Another essential ingredient that has to be present in order for recovery to be possible must come from the addict themselves. What is that? It’s the desire to recover. Short of lockdown, a person that lacks the desire to recover will remain stuck in their self-created hell until they become willing to change. However, with desire in place, and a willingness to become honest and follow through on the actions suggested, developing a path to sobriety becomes available. And perhaps more important, it creates the possibility of a life filled with purpose, passion, and joy, which can only be attained as a result of returning to the human being’s natural and spiritual path. This is the holistic point of view. This is a path that would benefit any human that walked it, not just those in recovery. This awakening can be seen as the gift of addiction itself; that is, the Soul uses challenges like addiction to awaken us to who we really are. That is what was true for me. Addiction was my greatest gift, for it led me here.
As important as it is to want to help your children, you must also have a support structure in place for yourself. At the end of the day, each human has the freedom and power to choose their path. All we can do is offer a way. It is attraction rather than promotion, so we must lead by demonstration. Making available a path to sobriety and a life of happy, joyous and free is what I do, first by living it. Whether or not one chooses that path is up to them.
I will tell you I have great faith in each Soul knowing exactly the right and most expedient path for their awakening. Yet, some must experience darkness before they can know themselves as the light. As CwG reminds us, our job is to be the light, to be the living demonstration of what is possible, and trust that, just as the ship lost in the storm finds its path back to port through the beacon of the forever shining lighthouse, so too will each Soul find its way home. Each Soul finds the right and perfect path, in the right and perfect time. Love and truth sets us free to be, do, and have whatever we choose as humans, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t benefit from the help of others. I was 23 when I got sober, and many earth angels have helped me along my path. I have been returning the favor ever since. I am here to help any way I can.
I see and feel your light, Susan. I am happy to join mine with yours to see if together we can’t help your children find another way. I would be happy to discuss your case with you, offer any suggestions, and look to see if any of our programs could help your situation.
Until then, I hold you and your family in my thoughts – JR
As I have stated in other columns, addiction is the number one killer in the US. Despite that statistics list heart disease, the larger question rarely addressed is, what actually causes heart disease? What is behind this completely preventable disease? Of course, the answer is addiction to substances that damage the heart. Heart disease and other related health issues that make the top 10 list never take into account the underlying preventable causes. This is where you will find addiction rearing its ugly head and why I say, without a shadow of doubt, that addiction IS the actual number one cause of death.
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, have them reach out. The Global Conversation offers an entire section dedicated to addiction and recovery, written by friend and colleague Kevin McCormack. Kevin and I regularly work together and have committed our life to recovery and the healing of addiction.
Soon the Conversations with God Foundation will be sponsoring retreats and webinars that will focus on recovery. You can learn more about that by signing up for their free newsletter here:
Conversations with God Foundation Newsletter
Until then, may you find the path to healing and health! – JR
(J.R. Westen, D.D. is a Holistic Health & Spiritual Counselor who has worked and presented side-by-side with Neale Donald Walsch for over a decade. He is passionate about helping individuals move beyond their emotional and spiritual challenges, transforming breakdowns into breakthroughs. His counseling and coaching provides practical wisdom and guidance that can be immediately incorporated to shift one’s experience of life.
As is true for most impactful teachers, J.R.’s own struggles and triumphs inspired him to find powerful ways of helping others. Sober since June 1, 1986, J.R.’s passion for helping individuals move through intense life challenges drove him to also specialize in Addiction and Grief Recovery.
J.R. currently shares his gift of counseling & coaching with individuals from around the world through the Wellness Center, Simply Vibrant, located on Long Island N.Y. In addition, he operates “Change House” a place where people come to transform. He also works with Escondido Sobering Services and now serves as the Director for the Conversations with God Foundation. He can be contacted at JR@CWG.ORG or JR@theglobalconversation.com, or to book an appointment, write support@simplyvibrant.com.)
If you are tired, irritable, stressed out, sleep-deprived, burned out, or exhausted, there are quick changes in food and behavior you can implement to reduce your symptoms, heal yourself, and, in the long run, prevent disease. Stress causes and accelerates chronic and terminal diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and depression. Chronic stress will give you adrenal fatigue and make you feel like you are always either exhausted or wired or alternating between both!
The stress of daily living has an enormous impact on your physical and emotional health – both good stress and bad stress. If you are experiencing back pain, dizziness, heart palpitations, low stamina, chronic infections, poor sleep, or food cravings, you may have adrenal fatigue. The adrenal glands sit on your kidneys and control hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. If your adrenal glands aren’t working properly, your thyroid and immune system will not function correctly. You may get infections repeatedly. You may lose your immune system function and your energy level may plummet.
Here are 7 things you can do to reduce your stress level:
1. Get enough sleep and sleep regular hours without exception. Go to bed at a decent hour every night. Go to bed at about the same time every night.
2. Re-evaluate your priorities.Do you need to work after normal work hours? Do you need to check your email and smart phone constantly? Do you have normal conversations and relationships with people, or are you living on electronic and social platforms? You may have relationships, family, children, and friends who miss you and want to spend time with you relaxing and sharing. Slow down and enjoy life! Figure out what life is about – is it about money and “things”? Aren’t the people in your life worth more than things? Don’t forget about your pets!
3. Eat whole foods – fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, and grains. Eat only 100% whole grains and don’t consume bleached, refined, or processed flours.
4. Cook at home as much as possible. Your recipes should be built by combining foods that just have one ingredient in them. This will automatically replace your consumption of processed foods with whole, healthy foods. You will know exactly what you are eating.
5. Eliminate sugar, syrups, and artificial sweeteners. Drink water or green tea unsweetened instead of sodas, sweetened drinks, or coffee. Sweeten drinks with stevia extract – it is a natural super-sweet plant that has no calories or chemicals! Eat fruits instead of sweets. Start reading your food labels and figure out how much sugar you are really eating! It’s okay to eat 20-30 grams of sugar a day if you are healthy, but you might be surprised to know that there are 65 grams of sugar in that 20-ounce bottle of soda or sweetened drink.
6. Eliminate or reduce coffee consumption. Eliminate caffeine altogether or, if you must, limit it to a cup of coffee in the morning. Be aware of everything you consume that contains caffeine. Carry fresh water with you at all times and drink it instead of anything else.
7. Do an emotional cleanse. Most people benefit from digestive cleansing, but an emotional cleanse can also help dramatically. A Harvard study showed that men who are angry are three times more likely to develop heart disease. UCLA has found that stress seems to reprogram immune cells into more toxic cells that feed disease. An emotional cleanse can allow the body to reduce stress and toxicity. The most prominent stress-causing emotions are guilt, anger, shame, and negativity. Start doing self-reflection and identify the causes of these feelings if you have them. Work to rid yourself of the negativity, and if you need help, seek help from friends, support groups, or a counselor. While you are ridding yourself from the negative emotions and thoughts, replace them with positive ones that appeal to you – family, pets, friends, hobbies, work, art, anything that you love.
Try one or more of these quick fixes and let me know how your stress level is!
(Beth Anderson is a certified Holistic Health Coach and founder of the Holistic Health Hotspot in Evansville, Indiana. She is also the author of “The Holistic Diet: Achieve Your Ideal Weight, Be Happy and Healthy for Life.” Beth received her training from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Beth is helping people improve their lives through nutrition and lifestyle education, health coaching, and by helping others to learn to make informed choices. Beth continues to spread understanding of the connection between body, mind, and spirit and encourages all to discern the truth about food, consumer products, environment, and life choices. You can find Beth on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/HolisticHealthHotspot or email her at beth@holistichealthhotspot.com)
Being in the midst of change anyway, we have decided to shift the title of this column from “Health and Wellness” to “Holistic Living.” Our wonderful editor, Lisa McCormack, asked me the other day if it didn’t seem to be a more appropriate title given what I am up to in the world. You see, I have a passion for helping people make simple changes to create healthier, happier lives. It is my steadfast belief, and on-the-ground experience, that there must be a holistic approach taken if positive lasting change is to occur. Whatever the challenges we may face, whether in our personal lives, or in our collective experience, we must address and shift at the level of the whole being when a symptom of dis-ease appears.
Dis-ease is nature’s way of saying that something you are doing isn’t working. While sometimes painful, it isn’t personal. It’s merely a sign that shows up to help guide us to a greater understanding of how things work naturally. If ignored, the symptoms get worse; and if ignored long enough, the system fails. If addressed in time, the system returns to its functionality, which is always about a return to balance. Balance is the key in all systems in nature, including the health of our body. When one part of a system is out of balance, it affects the whole, which is why a Holistic approach to living and healing any out of balance system is always the most effective way of returning it, and us, to our natural state…which is well-being itself.
When you realize the interconnectedness of it all, including all of us, you realize how important it is to make conscious decisions at every level in our lives…every choice made affects the whole. For example, the idea expressed in Conversations with God that “We Are All One” changed the way I viewed my world and the choices I now make in life. The realization that my choices impacted not just my life, but the lives of everyone, changed everything for me and the way I operate in the world. Conscious living was born within me as a result of the consequences of unconscious living. This is the process of life. Life informs itself through the living of life itself. I awaken to what doesn’t work and then become aware of other possibilities that might. Sometimes also called growing up, it’s that moment in a human being’s life when they realize, it just isn’t all about me. This is where the conversation of conscious living begins to challenge not only how we live, but how we live in the world as well.
With life comes freedom, with freedom comes responsibility, and responsibility literally means our ability to choose how we respond to life..the consequences of those choices create our living reality. We are free to make any choice available to us. But are we free to have our choices impact others negatively?
Smoking is a good example of this. There are consequences of smoking to the smoker and there are consequences to the others exposed to a smoker. These shared consequences have differing levels of responsibility attached to them. The smoker makes their choice, which they are free to do, but what about the effect their behavior has on others? Especially others that cannot choose their exposure to the smoke…like children.
In truth, smoking works for no one, unless ones desired outcome is slow death and diseases like cancer and COPD. It works perfectly for that. Forgive the sarcasm, but do we really need further evidence of this truth? Yet people continue to choose to smoke while they and others die from it everyday. These are the consequences of smoking. Do so at your own peril, but consider your actions on others as well. I was a smoker, so I am not throwing stones here. But if I were, they would be to awaken you before the metaphorical boulder careening down the mountainside directly at you wipes you clean off the planet. Read last week’s column for a reminder of just how delicate and brief life can be.
Conscious living, then, comes out of the consequences experienced out of unconscious living, except when it doesn’t. That is, we can choose to ignore our experience and continue behaving in ways we know do not serve us. Part of the definition of Addiction is “continued use of a substance or behavior in spite of negative consequences.” Still, every act is informative, even if it ends your physical form, for do we not learn from our collective behavior and evolve? Slower than I would like to see, but nonetheless, we do evolve, we do grow, we are awakening to the human potential through the process of living something other than our highest possibility at any given time. Does it have to be that way? Yes and no…you get to choose. That is the great secret.
It is my mission to help myself and others experience this greater possibility of beingness that drives me in all areas of my work. With my new position in the Conversations with God Foundation and our common mission which comes from the words God expressed to Neale Donald Walsch through his writings of the CwG material, “Be the next grandest version of the greatest vision ever you held about who you are.” These words drive me forward to find ways to help awaken what my Father called “the sleeping giant within.” Also known as “Christ Consciousness” and by other names as well, the spark of potential lives within us all, waiting to be tapped, yearning to be expressed. It is this very spark that is the key to ending suffering and the pain associated with the choices that do not serve us, other than to awaken us to our true potential and our truth.
The question for me is always how to make that practical so the wisdom within us can be realized and made manifest in the lives of those we have the great fortune to serve. The further mission of the CwG Foundation is “to give people back to themselves.” We also put it this way: “To remind people to remember who they really are.” When you remember who you really are, what your true nature and potential is, the questions become simple. Who will I choose to BE today? What will I choose to BEcome next? It truly is “To Be or Not to Be.” It really is that simple. That is why you are called Human BEing!
SO, what say you? We all benefit when we engage in the conversation about what works and what doesn’t work. We learn from each other and we learn from our own experience. We really benefit when we do so with respect and tolerance for all paths. Then and only then are we really communicating. This is part of the greater purpose of The Global Conversation as well, the realization that we are all connected and that our behavior has a global impact, sometimes also called “The Butterfly Effect.” Holistic living, then, beneficially impacts us all when we choose to create at every level of beingness. What is it in your life right now that appears to stand in the way of you being your next grandest version of the greatest vision ever you held of who you are? Are you caring for your body, mind, emotions and nurturing your spirit? If not, what could cause you to make a change? What, if anything, can I or the Foundation do to support you in creating a better life? This is one of the many forums for you to express yourself, but you are also welcome to contact us in person, too. CwG has a wonderful coaching staff of dedicated people who have addressed some of life’s greatest challenges using the wisdom of CwG to help. So don’t needlessly suffer. Reach out. Remember the words and first rule from “When Everything Changes Change Everything”: Never go it alone!
I may or may not be able to help you, but you will feel heard. Sometimes that is all that is required. We hear our own wisdom in the confronting of our story, in the seeking of our solutions to the challenges we face. Like overcoming smoking, or any other addiction that you may have struggled with in the past. If you are ready to finally become free, we can help. Please also use this forum to share your experience on how these and other spiritual messages have sponsored change for the better in your life. How do you use the wisdom within to transform your life? Sharing your experience helps everyone and is a great reminder to yourself of what a wonderful gift your life is. Life is a gift. And though sometimes it can be difficult, together we can make a difference, make a change for the better, make this world a better place. Yes, I just said it. And as sappy as it may sound, I really mean it. Don’t take my word for it, though. Try it out for yourself.
You have the wisdom of the ages within; life’s challenges will expose this. What better opportunity is there to know this than to be a light unto the darkness. Darkness is, therefore, a gift. What will you choose, to be the light or to succumb to the darkness? The good news is even if you find yourself stuck in the dark, you can’t live in there forever, for it is simply not who you are. And sooner or later, you will be drawn back into the light. An idea beautifully expressed in a wonderful children’s book called: “The Little Soul in the Sun” written by Neale and available for sale at the Foundation. (Like how I snuck a commercial in here!) Whether or not it feels that way right now, know truth will once again find you and set you free. Having just been through a dark and painful period, I understand this better than ever. I have great compassion for the human process and I am grateful to those who helped me once again find the light. We call them Angels and we are surrounded by them. I am grateful for mine.
When you remember who you really are, also remember you have a gift to give. Then share it freely. There is no better way than to BE it. As Gandhi said: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Finally, thank you to all who sent me notes of well wishes around the loss we experienced of our beloved Patty Hammett and for my new position at the CwG Foundation. Your support is so greatly appreciated! I welcome anyone to reach out for any reason. Please know we are here to serve you. Until then, Blessed Be – JR
(J.R. Westen, D.D. is a Holistic Health & Spiritual Counselor who has worked and presented side-by-side with Neale Donald Walsch for over a decade. He is passionate about helping individuals move beyond their emotional and spiritual challenges, transforming breakdowns into breakthroughs. His counseling and coaching provides practical wisdom and guidance that can be immediately incorporated to shift one’s experience of life. As is true for most impactful teachers, J.R.’s own struggles and triumphs inspired him to find powerful ways of helping others. Sober since June 1, 1986, J.R.’s passion for helping individuals move through intense life challenges drove him to also specialize in Addiction and Grief Recovery. J.R. currently shares his gift of counseling & coaching with individuals from around the world through the Wellness Center, Simply Vibrant, located on Long Island N.Y. In addition, he operates “Change House” a place where people come to transform, he also works with Escondido Sobering Services and now serves as the Administrator and Program Director for the Conversations with God Foundation. He can be contacted at JR@CWG.ORG or JR@theglobalconversation.com, or to book an appointment, write support@simplyvibrant.com.)
I said goodbye to my dear friend and colleague Patty Hammett last week. She was the Administrator of the Conversations with God Foundation with whom I have had the pleasure of working with for over thirteen years. She and I shared our common passion and common mission with the CwG Foundation of giving people back to themselves, which in CwG terms means helping others to recreate themselves anew in their next grandest version of the greatest vision ever they held about who they are. Last week’s column on being angry at disease was based in my grief around losing her, another dear friend gone to cancer, but it also inspired me to recommit to helping people find holistic solutions to everyday living problems.
Patty left her physical form, yet I feel as if she is here with me right now. In fact, I will tell you that I feel her inspiration and words flowing through me as we speak. I imagine it is a similar feeling that Neale Donald Walsch must get when he is having his conversations with God. I hear Patty’s voice nudging me, inviting me, guiding me, and all I have to do is let it flow. This is a wonderful feeling and important for me since I have been asked to fill her shoes at the CwG Foundation as the new Administrator and Program Director. I loved working with Patty, and it seems our work will continue; I feel a profound sense of gratitude for this. My sense of sadness is coupled with this overwhelming feeling of her presence right here, right now, which causes me to feel something other than sad. I am not sure there is a word for it, but I am at peace. So this week’s column is written by Patty Hammett, here to inspire JR and YOU to be the next grandest version of the greatest vision ever we held about who we are.
When I was asked by Neale Donald Walsch and Will Richardson, the CwG Foundation board President, to take over the leadership of the foundation, I will tell you that I felt it potentially to be too daunting a task for me. We talked for several hours about it, and still I wasn’t sure if I could do the foundation justice. It is interesting how fear and doubt will show right up when we are offered opportunities that we know in the moment will change our life forever for the better, yet still they show up as if they are there to protect us from all that good about to be bestowed upon us…”can’t have that” says fear! I left with my head swimming, wondering if I had made the right decision, second guessing my choice, feeling uncertain if I could pull it off. Would I make Patty proud? Oh, God, how am I going to fill those shoes? It seems my prayers were answered the very next morning when I awoke full of excitement and passion; the ideas began to flow out of me. They were pouring out of me faster than I could write them down or express them to others, and that is when I realized Patty’s presence had replaced the fear. It was the moment I knew that she was still here, that I was not alone in this, and that I could do it. She was literally flowing through me. She was using my hands just as she is doing right now to express these very words to you. She was in spirit, that is, inspiring me. And then I had no doubt. I knew I was not alone and that we could do it. Call it what you will, but when you have this kind of an experience, being in spirit, something inside of you shifts. That is the God Experience.
And God knows I needed a shift. If you read my columns, you know that I have been moving through the loss of a marriage which ended in betrayal, the loss of someone I care for deeply, the loss of hopes, dreams and desires now never to be fulfilled, at least not with her. It is said that God never gives you more than you can handle. I wish God didn’t have so much confidence in me sometimes! And yet as promised, the gifts of shift continue to reveal themselves as understanding replaces pain. The messages of Conversations with God, along with my training as a grief and recovery counselor, have helped me through the toughest of times for sure, but it has also set the stage for my personal transformation in a direction I would have never thought possible. Without the loss, this current version of me could not exist. Without the change, this current experience could not take shape or form. And as always, good comes out of bad to create great. And now Patty, unburdened by physical form, shows up to remind us all, through me in this moment, that life is always working in our favor. A message I will continue to speak as long as I have breath.
If you have been inspired by the messages of CwG or any spiritual writings, you know they are here to remind us to remember who we really are, especially during the times when it would be very easy to forget. That is also the job of angels, both here and there, to show up and help us to remember, to guide us through, to be the light unto the darkness. Patty was an angel in physical form who now has shown up for me as an angel to guide me through the next chapter of my life…and for this I am forever grateful.
As I write this, the sun has just peaked through my window, a new day is born, how appropriate as a rebirth takes place before my very eyes. Having and holding these kinds of experiences make the tough times worth the price of admission. Having people like Patty in your life makes life worth living.
So I begin again. I take the parts from the old version of me that work and I leave behind the parts of me that no longer work, knowing they served me well for they brought me here. With gratitude I say goodbye and begin again.
I am ready to take on this new opportunity to be a messenger and helper at the Conversations with God Foundation. One of my very first actions will be to create a partnership program, an opportunity where we can co-create together, the bringing forth the messages of CwG through the living of your purpose, passion, and your reason for being. If you have been touched by the messages of CwG and wish to become a grander version of yourself through the living of your life purpose and doing so in partnership with the CwG Foundation, if this sounds like something you would be interested in learning more about, then please reach out to me. I will be creating programs going forward to give opportunities for others to be of service, but I am also going to be looking for those in spirit, those inspired individuals that would like to create with us, to ensure that the legacy of the CwG messages continues long after we are gone. My realization once again through the loss of my dear friend Patty, and now through her inspiration to me, that the messages of Conversations with God changed my life forever, and it continues to do so. My gift to give back is to ensure that these messages continue to touch the lives of those who are reawakening to who they really are. This I know makes my dear angel friend Patty smile, for it was her passion…and still is.
If making a difference in the world while ensuring the legacy of CwG sound like something you want to explore with the CwG Foundation, reach out to me: JR@CWG.ORG
Thank you, Dear Patty, for all that you have been, are now, and forever will be…an angel without end. May you guide my every action to benefit the world we serve, together forever, in love and in spirit. Your friend – JR
(J.R. Westen, D.D. is a Holistic Health & Spiritual Counselor who has worked and presented side-by-side with Neale Donald Walsch for over a decade. He is passionate about helping individuals move beyond their emotional and spiritual challenges, transforming breakdowns into breakthroughs. His coaching provides practical wisdom and guidance that can be immediately incorporated to shift one’s experience of life. As is true for most impactful teachers, J.R.’s own struggles and triumphs inspired him to find powerful ways of helping others. Sober since June 1, 1986, J.R.’s passion for helping individuals move through intense life challenges drove him to also specialize in Addiction and Grief Recovery. J.R. currently shares his gift of counseling & coaching with individuals from around the world through the Wellness Center, Simply Vibrant, located on Long Island N.Y. In addition, he operates “Change House” a place where people come to transform, he also works with Escondido Sobering Services and now serves as the administrator and program director for the Conversations with God Foundation. He can be contacted at JR@theglobalconversation.com, or to book an appointment, write support@simplyvibrant.com.)
I am losing another friend to cancer…another dear friend and cancer is the culprit. I’m sick of it! I have stopped counting the losses, there have been so many, several just in this last year for me. I’m sick of it!! Yeah, I’m angry at you cancer, heart disease, diabetes, addiction…and I’m not gonna take it anymore! You have killed enough of my friends and I’m over it. If you are a friend of mine and you are behaving in a way that contributes to disease, I’m going to get in your face…that was fair warning. I am going to be that person who annoys the crap out of you, especially about those behaviors that do not serve you – you know, the ones that contribute to dis-ease rather than health.
YES, I’M TALKING TO YOU…
YOU, who are reading this right now, this is a message for you. Don’t stop reading, you know this was meant for you. I’m that uncomfortable feeling, here to once again get your attention, here to remind you to clean up your act. This is a personal message from me, and the universe, directly to you: Wake up to the lifestyle choices you are making that we both know contribute to things that shorten your life. Like Smoking. STOP IT. Just stop it. Don’t tell me, “I know, I know, I shouldn’t smoke,” and then go out and smoke another, NO. STOP IT RIGHT NOW.
I’m sick of it!!! We are all sick of it. I have watched too many people I love die of Cancer, COPD and other related illness because they wouldn’t go through the minor discomfort of quitting smoking. CANCER IS FAR MORE UNCOMFORTABLE! Trust me. I’ve seen it too many times. You don’t want to die that way, nor do you want to live with the treatment of it, either. YOU DON’T!
What’s behind it all…
As an addictionologist, I will tell you that addiction is the number one killer in America. Wait, isn’t heart disease the number one killer? According to the CDC it is. But what’s behind it? What causes heart disease? Addiction to the lifestyle choices that contribute to, or outright cause, heart disease. Addiction is the number one killer and heart disease is it’s first path of least resistance. Addiction in part is defined as: “continued use of any substance or behavior despite negative consequences”. The ultimate consequence being death.
BUT GOOD NEWS…
You can avoid that heart attack. Heart disease is completely preventable! You don’t catch it, you create it. If you can create it, you can prevent it. You can avoid future heart problems by adopting a healthy lifestyle right now! YES again, this means you! Don’t make me come over there!
Here are some heart disease prevention tips to get you started and to save you from my wrath.
Don’t smoke or use tobacco!
I think we covered that above, but it’s worth repeating. STOP IT!
Smoking or using tobacco is one of the most significant risk factors for developing heart disease and cancer there is. Chemicals in tobacco damage your heart and blood vessels, leading to narrowing of the arteries (atherosclerosis). Atherosclerosis leads to a heart attack. No amount of smoking is safe. And there is no safe exposure to secondhand smoke, either. Stop killing your friends and family too. STOP IT!
In addition, the nicotine in cigarette smoke makes your heart work harder by narrowing your blood vessels and increasing your heart rate and blood pressure. Carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke replaces some of the oxygen in your blood. This increases your blood pressure by forcing your heart to work harder to supply enough oxygen. Even “social smoking” while at a bar or restaurant is dangerous and increases the risk of heart disease and cancer. Addiction is far too often built into social norms, which is why we have come to accept heart disease and cancer as the top 2 killers in America. You don’t need a cig break, you need a break from cigarettes.
If you are smoking I am going to assume you are on fire and I will immediately put you out. I wonder how many buckets of ice cold water it would take to make you smoke free? Something to ponder…
The good news is that when you quit smoking, your risk of heart disease drops dramatically. And no matter how long or how much you smoked, you’ll start reaping rewards as soon as you quit. WHICH IS NOW!!!
Eat a Heart Healthy Diet of Plant Based Foods – the Health Benefits of Phytonutrients …
There are staggering mortality rates associated with serious health conditions such as heart disease, stroke, and cancer, the focus on prevention and nutrition has become more important than ever. All one has to do is read the last few months of my columns in the archive and follow the simple life changing advice to build a fortress of protection that dis-ease can’t penetrate.
Phytonutrients are the foot soldiers in that fight. Phytonutrients are the chemicals derived from plants and are very similar in composition to antioxidants. Phytonutrients come from plants that are suitable for human consumption. Though phytonutrients are not considered essential nutrients, science is discovering they provide health benefits that can help prevent the development of a myriad of conditions and diseases. Numerous studies have revealed that these plant chemicals actually protect tissues and cells from free radicals and their harmful effects. In essence, if you eat a variety of fresh vegetables and fruits, you will obtain the benefits of phytonutrients.
The best way to obtain the health benefits of phytonutrients is to go mostly raw, organic and colorful. That is, follow a diet that includes a significant amount of colorful fruits and vegetables. For example, Lycopene is a type of carotenoids that is prevalent in tomatoes, and is one such phytonutrient that has been recently been determined to produce health benefits. There is strong evidence that shows that it is beneficial for preventing the development of heart disease and other illnesses.
Other foods that contain significant levels of phytonutrients include garlic, beans, berries, and whole grains. A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains can help protect your heart. Beans, other low-fat sources of protein can also reduce your risk of heart disease.
Limiting certain fats you eat is also important. Of the types of fat we consume — saturated, polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and trans fat — saturated fat and trans fat increase the risk of coronary artery disease by raising blood cholesterol levels. You will find these in foods that are fast, cheap and easy and come in a box…get out of that box! Just because they call it food doesn’t mean you should eat it. Look on the label for the term “partially hydrogenated” to avoid trans fat.
Omega-3 fatty acids, a type of polyunsaturated fat, decrease your risk of heart attack, and lower blood pressure. Some fish, such as salmon are a good natural source of omega-3s – (but watch out for GMO salmon, which come with their own risks). Omega-3s are present in smaller amounts in flaxseed oil, walnut oil, soybean oil and canola oil, and they can also be found in supplements. ( supplements I recommend are a good omega, vitamins B & D3 – the rest of what you need will come from a healthy diet)
Heart-healthy eating isn’t just about cutting back on the crap, though. Most people need to add more fruits and vegetables to their diet, with a goal of five to 10 servings a day – or better yet, just make it your every meal. And this doesn’t mean on the side, this means as your main course. Eating fruits and vegetables can not only help prevent heart disease, but also help prevent cancer and every other dis-ease.
Clearing up another myth…
Following a heart-healthy diet also means avoiding drinking alcohol…there is no RDA for alcohol consumption. Contrary to popular belief, there is no beneficial alcohol consumption….yes including wine. If you want the benefits of grapes, eat grapes. If you are going to drink, keep it to a minimum. AND if you are an addict, a minimum means NONE!
Exercise for at least 30 minutes a day…
Getting some regular, daily exercise can reduce your risk of heart disease big time. And when you combine physical activity with other lifestyle measures, such as creating and maintaining a healthy weight, the benefits are even greater. Physical activity helps you control your weight and can reduce your chances of developing other conditions that may put a strain on your heart, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. It also reduces stress, which is known to be a factor in disease.
Try getting at least 30 to 60 minutes of moderately intense physical activity most days of the week. And remember that other activities such as gardening, housekeeping, taking the stairs and walking the dog, all count. You don’t have to exercise strenuously to achieve benefits, but you can see bigger benefits by increasing the intensity, duration and frequency of your workouts. Yoga is one of my favorites.
The importance of maintaining a healthy weight…
As you put on weight in adulthood, your weight gain is mostly fat, rather than muscle. This excess weight can lead to conditions that increase your chances of heart disease — high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. Even a small weight loss can be beneficial. Reducing your weight by just 10 percent can decrease your blood pressure, lower your blood cholesterol level and reduce your risk of diabetes, which is also on the top ten list of the things that kill.
One of my favorite reads last year was Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Furhman. Within his book is a comprehensive look at the benefits of eating a plant-based diet. He also dispels the myth of other popular diets that don’t work. Far too often MD’s know little about nutrition. Not true for Dr. Furhman.
Well, there you have it. I guess I have ranted enough for a New Year. I am just so sick and tired of losing people I love to avoidable health issues. You know who you are. You know this was a message directly for you. Get off your butt and get moving toward a healthier life right now. Like any bad habit, 3 weeks from now you will have begun to rewire your brain to a new healthier habit. 3 weeks, folks! And after 90 days you own it! Three months to a new you…
Need help? That is why I am here. I help people create successful transformation in their lives by overcoming what seems insurmountable; you won’t overcome it on the couch. Get off your butt and get going. Reach out, you can speak to me for nothing and see if having a coach in your corner wouldn’t change everything.
YOU CAN DO IT…Don’t make me come over there!
You can. It was love that made me do it. It is love that drives my passion for health and wellness. It is love that will heal you. The love of yourself enough to make choices and decisions that not only benefit you, but everyone around you. Love is always the answer. – With love, JR
(J.R. Westen, D.D. is a Holistic Health & Spiritual Counselor who has worked and presented side-by-side with Neale Donald Walsch for over a decade. He is passionate about helping individuals move beyond their emotional and spiritual challenges, transforming breakdowns into breakthroughs. His coaching provides practical wisdom and guidance that can be immediately incorporated to shift one’s experience of life. As is true for most impactful teachers, J.R.’s own struggles and triumphs inspired him to find powerful ways of helping others. Sober since June 1, 1986, J.R.’s passion for helping individuals move through intense life challenges drove him to also specialize in Addiction and Grief Recovery. J.R. currently shares his gift of counseling & coaching with individuals from around the world through the Wellness Center, Simply Vibrant, located on Long Island N.Y. In addition, he operates “Change House” a place where people come to transform, he also works with Escondido Sobering Services and serves on the Board of Directors for the Conversations with God Foundation. He can be contacted at JR@theglobalconversation.com, or to book an appointment, write support@simplyvibrant.com.)
We can all agree that without health, little else matters. If I look to my experience of how I have helped myself and others to create wellness, it always comes back to the simple principle that the whole being must be considered and addressed. Holistic Health is taking the approach that all areas of life affect the living force of a human being; that is, every choice matters. Wellness is created in everything we choose: what we think, what we eat, what we do. Every thought, decision and action we make affects the whole of us. You can be as fit as a fiddle, for example, but if you are carrying around wounds from the past or unexpressed and unresolved emotions, your health can become just as compromised as any other unhealthy behavior.
As important as what we think and feel, eating the right kinds of food is crucial. Our intake of nutrition is the primary and fundamental means that sets us on a course that either heals or harms us. Eating alkaline foods and balancing pH is essential and perhaps the most powerful means of healing and balancing the physical body.
Second only to breathing and sustaining our heartbeat, the most important metabolic function that our bodies perform is maintaining an ideal pH level. pH stands for “potential” of “Hydrogen.” The pH level is a measure of acidity or alkalinity, on a scale of zero to fourteen, with zero being most acid, fourteen being most alkaline and seven being mid-range. The pH level is one of the most important balance systems of the body, and the most important pH level that the body must regulate is the blood’s pH level. The body’s blood pH level must be maintained at 7.4 or slightly alkaline.
Unfortunately, in today’s environment of high stress, on-the-run lifestyles, eating to much junk or fast foods, poor or not enough sleep, and a greater exposure to toxins that surround us, most people are operating in an unhealthy acidic environment internally. Many doctors believe this to be a major contributing factor to increased illness and dis-ease.
When your body is too acidic, it will try to balance itself by utilizing existing alkaline minerals. If your diet doesn’t contain sufficient balancing alkaline minerals, it will either build a more acidic environment or pull nutrients from other important areas like calcium from your bones which can lead to diseases like osteoporosis. Not at all what we want to create.
Diet is probably the most important change we can make to balance our natural pH. What’s important is not so much the pH of the food as it goes into our bodies, but the pH level once the food is broken down. Considering whether a food is acid–forming or alkaline–forming is key. For example, even though we think of citrus as acidic, fruits like lemons are alkalizing, because when they’re consumed, they break down and provide alkaline mineral salts. Similarly, foods we might normally think of as good for us may have a negative impact on us as they are actually acid-forming…things like grains and pasturized milk are two such examples.
When we have an acid state, the body, in its own protective wisdom, will create a chemical process to protect itself from being harmed by the acids. This buffering process requires the use of many nutrients from the body, including electrolyte minerals. In order to maintain the blood’s critical pH balance, the body will compromise other “less” important functions. Once the electrolyte reserves become depleted, the body begins to steal these electrolytes from other various organs and systems of the body to maintain the blood’s pH level. This is where the imbalance begins.
To maintain good health, we need to eat at least 75 to 80 percent alkaline-forming foods. The bad news is the average American diet consists of about 80% acid-forming foods, which puts us on the wrong side of the health scale. As we talked about a few weeks back in the column “Get out of that box,” processed and refined foods are extremely acidic to our systems and promote dis-ease, not health.
A proper, slightly alkaline diet suggests taking in at least 80% of alkalizing foods, like green vegetables, and never more than 20% of neutral and acidifying foods, acid-forming foods like meat, dairy products, bread, and all kinds of other yeast products, alcohol, carbonated drinks and coffee. Try to avoid the acid-forming foods, and instead consume as much alkaline-forming foods as possible, like vegetables, greens, sprouts, and most kinds of seeds. Eating alkaline foods transforms your body pH from the dangers of acidic to alkaline or slightly above neutral.
Eat more green food and alkalize your body pH today. An alkaline way of life is the perfect start to restore and maintain your overall health. By transforming your nutrition into an alkalizing pH diet, by eating vegetables, and perhaps adding green food nutritional supplements, the body’s pH level will gradually begin to balance. When the nutrients of alkaline foods get into your bloodstream, the cells in your body will begin to be regenerated. An alkaline diet thus helps to boost your energy levels, improve skin, reduce allergies, and enhance mental clarity. Above that, when pH balance is achieved and maintained, the body instinctively drops to its ideal, healthy weight. As soon as the acidic environment is eliminated, there will be no need for new fat cells to form, and the remaining fat in your body is no longer needed to store acid wastes, and therefore simply melts away. An alkaline way of life will restore good health; you will not only see, but also feel the difference.
Nature has provided us the perfect packages filled with all of the elements we need to have this state of health. All we have to do is make these good choices for our body to benefit. Begin by eating more alkaline and cut out or greatly limit refined and processed foods and sugars. Avoid things with corn syrup, agave, maltose, or aspartame in it. Instead start your morning with, say, cucumber and lemon in spring water or one of my green smoothies. Add JR’s Lemonade mix to the mix… 4 lemons squeezed to 1/2 gallon of fresh spring or filtered water with 4 squirts of liquid stevia. Liquid stevia is an ideal sweetener. Fresh, raw, organic cucumber is massively hydrating and alkalizing, so are lemons. Get creative, because eating healthy does’t have to be a drag.
Here are some more examples of foods to include and avoid:
High Alkaline Foods – Include: String Beans, Banana, Dandelion greens, Dates, Figs, Prunes, Raisins, Swiss Chard, Almonds, Avocado, Beets, Blackberries, Carrots, Chives, Cranberries, Endive, Grapes, Kale, Peaches, Persimmons, Pomegranate, Plums, Raspberries, Spinach.
Neutral Oils – Include: Cold Pressed, Expeller Pressed, Almond, Avocado, Coconut, Canola, Cottonseed, Linseed, Olive, Safflower, Sesame, Soy, Sunflower, Walnut.
Alkaline – Include: Agar, Alfalfa, Apple & Fresh Apple Cider, Apricots, Artichokes, Bamboo shoots, Beans sprouted, most Berries, Blueberries, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cantaloupe, Cauliflower, Celery, Cherries, Chestnuts, Chicory, Coconut Milk, Collards, Corn fresh and sweet, Cucumbers, Daikon, Eggplant, Escarole, Garlic, Ginger root, Gooseberry, Grapefruit, Guava, Horseradish fresh and raw, Kelp, Kohlrabi, Leek, Lemon and Peel, Lettuce, Lime, Loganberry, Mango, Melons, raw Milk, Acidophilus Yogurt, Whey.
Acid – avoid or limit: Alcohol, Bread, Caffeine, Coffee, Corn, Custards, Drugs, Flour, Grain, Soy, Bread, noodles, Pasta, Sugar, Tobacco, Egg yolk, Fruit Jellies (Jams Canned, Sulphured, Sugared, Dried), Pasteurized Milk Products, Acid Fats, Butter, Cream, Margarine, Lard.
To live in a state of health and wellness is to develop and adhere to a daily holistic health plan that makes sense for you and prevents dis-ease and promotes health. Along with proper thought, emotional healing, and understanding the divine nature of all things, the power to experience health becomes self-evident when we shift the food choices we make, because what passes our lips doesn’t just end up on our hips! Begin today by limiting the acid-forming foods and replace them with alkalizing ones. Go green and get colorful organic foods, and you will feel the benefits that a balance pH lifestyle provides. As always, to your health! – JR
(J.R. Westen, D.D. is a Holistic Health & Spiritual Counselor who has worked and presented side-by-side with Neale Donald Walsch for over a decade. He is passionate about helping individuals move beyond their emotional and spiritual challenges, transforming breakdowns into breakthroughs. His coaching provides practical wisdom and guidance that can be immediately incorporated to shift one’s experience of life. As is true for most impactful teachers, J.R.’s own struggles and triumphs inspired him to find powerful ways of helping others. Sober since June 1, 1986, J.R.’s passion for helping individuals move through intense life challenges drove him to also specialize in Addiction and Grief Recovery. J.R. currently shares his gift of counseling & coaching with individuals from around the world through the Wellness Center, Simply Vibrant, located on Long Island N.Y. In addition, he works with Escondido Sobering Services and serves on the Board of Directors for the Conversations with God Foundation. He can be contacted at JR@theglobalconversation.com, or to book an appointment, write support@simplyvibrant.com.)
Perhaps the greatest gift bestowed upon me was and is my sense of humor. I love to laugh and I absolutely love to make others laugh too. Yet these days I haven’t had much to laugh about. Life has presented me with some very painful and unwanted changes this year, and while it hasn’t always been easy, the ability to make light of my situation lives at the top of my go-to-list of favorite ways to make it through these tough times. When you get to the place where you can laugh, you know you are going to survive.
Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand. – Mark Twain
Laughter, it’s said, is the best medicine. And there is plenty of evidence to back that statement up, though I’m sure few would argue the point. Laughter is a powerful antidote to stress, pain, and even conflict. Nothing works faster or more dependably to provide balance than a good laugh. Humor lightens the load, releases burdens, inspires hopes, reconnects you to others, and keeps you grounded and balanced.
Humor is infectious. The sound of roaring laughter is far more contagious than any cough, cold, sniffle, or sneeze. When people are in a group and they hear someone laughing, they often join in spontaneously. Laughing with other people helps us deepen our connection with them. I dare you not to smile while watching someone having a really good laugh. You may be thinking right now of that last time you had one of those gut-busters yourself. You know the kind where your face hurts and you’re begging them to stop, no more, please, squeezing your cheeks, tears of joy flooding your eyes. Those are the best.
I always knew looking back on my tears would bring me laughter, but I never knew looking back on my laughter would make me cry. – Cat Stevens
Laughter can help restore us to a positive mental and emotional place, even while in the midst of deep grief. Laughter also triggers healthy physical conditions in the body, so it is essential to every health-and-wellness program. Humor and laughter strengthen your immune system, boost your energy, diminish pain, and helps to protect you from the damaging effects of stress. Stress hormones are decreased as laughter reduces stress in ways like nothing else can.
Laughter can reduce chronic pain too. Medical studies have shown that just a few minutes of laughter can diminish chronic pain for up to a couple of hours. It allows us to tolerate discomfort more readily. Other studies have shown that laughter can increase energy while reducing stress and boost your immune system. Infection-fighting antibodies are released when you laugh. It also reduces blood sugar levels, increasing glucose tolerance in diabetics. Is there any condition not benefited by laughter? I think not. Best of all, this medicine is free and easy to use. All you have to do is tickle that funny bone.
A day without laughter is a day wasted – Charlie Chaplin
If you have ever been to a Conversations with God retreat, you know we open our first night by getting to know who is in the room. We ask our participants to not only share who they are and what brought them to us, but also we invite them to tell a joke. It is a great way of easing us into the space, reducing the natural tension we all feel in those kinds of situations. It also helps set the stage for the deep emotional and spiritual work we come to do. The work is about enlightenment, which means, to lighten up.
Often the work we do can cause the room to become ‘heavy,’ especially when the sharing takes us to some of those very painful places. The challenges that are brought to the room by our participants are no joke, yet we notice every time that in the right moment laughter can provide an access to healing like nothing else can. It does so by creating the condition for us to see the other side of our life situations…the “lighter side.” Without a doubt, that, as much as anything, can create the space to heal even the most painful of situations we face as humans. I know this all to well right now. And as I said at the top of the article, humor has been one of my greatest tools and assets on my journey.
There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt. – Erma Bombeck
So this week let’s all help each other enjoy the benefits that laughter has to offer. Share your experience of how laughter has helped you through the tough times. Or maybe just share a joke or two (keep ’em clean). I am certain that I am not the only one that could use a good laugh right now. I will kick us off with the following silliness. 🙂
Four Catholic men and a Catholic woman were having coffee in St. Peters Square.
The first Catholic man tells his friends, “My son is a priest. When he walks into a room, everyone calls him ‘Father’.”
The second Catholic man chirps, “My son is a Bishop. When he walks into a room, people call him ‘Your Grace’.”
The third Catholic gent says, “My son is a Cardinal. When he enters a room, everyone bows their head and says ‘Your Eminence’.”
The fourth Catholic man says very proudly, “My son is the Pope. When he walks into a room, people call him ‘Your Holiness’.”
Since the lone Catholic woman was sipping her coffee in silence, the four men give her a subtle, “Well ………?”
She proudly replies, “I have a daughter, slim, tall, 38″ DD bust, 24″ waist and 34” hips. When she walks into a room, everybody says, “Oh, My God.”
(J.R. Westen, D.D. is a Holistic Health & Spiritual Counselor who has worked and presented side-by-side with Neale Donald Walsch for over a decade. He is passionate about helping individuals move beyond their emotional and spiritual challenges, transforming breakdowns into breakthroughs. His coaching provides practical wisdom and guidance that can be immediately incorporated to shift one’s experience of life. As is true for most impactful teachers, J.R.’s own struggles and triumphs inspired him to find powerful ways of helping others. Sober since June 1, 1986, J.R.’s passion for helping individuals move through intense life challenges drove him to also specialize in Addiction and Grief Recovery. J.R. currently shares his gift of counseling & coaching with individuals from around the world through the Wellness Center, Simply Vibrant, located on Long Island N.Y. In addition, he works with Escondido Sobering Services and serves on the Board of Directors for the Conversations with God Foundation. He can be contacted at JR@theglobalconversation.com, or to book an appointment, write support@simplyvibrant.com.)
We all know what Thanksgiving day is suppose to represent; gratitude for our abundance and good fortune. But how often does it actually become an excuse for gluttonous behavior that leads to guilt? Making healthy choices can be challenging this time of year, given that the tradition itself is built around an abundance of food and drink. And if you happen to be an addict, a dis-ease that can make any holiday more challenging, this particular one can represent disaster…if you allow it.
But is that what this day is for? How does gluttonous behavior represent gratitude for an abundant crop? How does behavior that leads to guilt fulfill that which this day is meant to represent? Of course neither does and only conscious choices and decisions today will create a day of Thanksgiving, rather than the alternative g’s which could be had at your expense.
Perhaps a reminder of Thanksgiving’s beginning will help set the stage for the grateful G to be experienced today.
As the Thanksgiving story goes…the pilgrims crossed the Atlantic in the year 1620 in the famous sailing vessel Mayflower. Around a 100 souls traveled for nearly two months through extreme difficulties, and after the long sea journey of 66 days, the pilgrims reached the shores of Massachusetts at Plymouth rock on December 11, 1620. 46 of them died due to extreme cold that first winter in their new world, but in the spring of 1621, native Indians taught the pilgrims how to grow foods like corn, beans and pumpkins which helped them to survive. And in the autumn of 1621, they held a grand celebration and feast to thank God for their abundant harvest…and the communal dinner, that is now popularly known as The Thanksgiving Day Feast, was born. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln, weary from Civil War, asked all Americans to set aside the last Thursday in November as a day of Thanksgiving…and a tradition was built that has lasted the test of time.
As we are reminded in this childhood history lesson, there was great cost and sacrifice given by those who sought religious freedom, and perhaps just freedom itself, as they were willing to risk it all to take the journey into the unknown with faith and hope as their guide. As anyone who has sacrificed for a cause or dream will attest, gratitude for reaping those kinds of rewards are deeply felt, especially given the price paid for having them realized.
Speaking of cost and sacrifice, the stories of gratitude around those who are fortunate enough to have a dinner table this year will be plenty. I am thinking of my friends on the East Coast for example. My office is located on Long Island New York, which you may have noticed has been in the news a great deal of late. A unfriendly miss named Sandy arrived uninvited a couple of weeks back, and she decided to wreak havoc in millions of lives. Sandy packed a double wallop for many, not only by stripping some of everything they owned, but over a hundred paid the ultimate cost with their lives. No one was left untouched by her aftermath, even if they made it through without a scratch.
New Yorkers are no strangers to dealing painful events and they once again have risen to meet the challenges left behind from the unwanted changes visited upon them by that uncaring bitch – of a storm. Grief stricken as so many still are, dealing with the shock of what has happened, yet still getting up everyday and attempting to return life to some kind of normal. I know Thanksgiving will take on a deeper meaning for most East Coasters this year, as it can for each of us that bore witness to the human spirit which shone through the survivors.
Marcus Aurelius said: “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive, to breath, to think, to enjoy, to love”. Yes that is what this day of Thanksgiving can represent for you. If that is what you choose to focus on today the gratitude will flow at will.
I was reflecting on past Thanksgivings and the struggle I have had, even in the best of times, when it comes to making good food choices at these holiday feasts. I am not sure what it is about special occasions that makes it more challenging than other days to be healthy, besides the simple abundance of those tempting offerings that adorn holiday tables everywhere. These days for me planning ahead makes all the difference when it comes to making healthy food and drink choices that leave me feeling fulfilled rather than stuffed like that turkey. So with my decision in place to be grateful today, a choice that benefits me everyday I make it, the practical side of me offers a healthy treat recipe that can make your day sweet without the guilt attached with some of the other food choices that may be presented at your feast. Here then I offer my guiltless goodie…
GUILTLESS BROWNIES
1/4 cup Grade B Maple Syrup
1/2 cup Coconut oil
1 tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Oat Bran
1/4 cup ground Flax Seed
1/2 cup Dark Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Powder (note–>not baking soda)
1 pinch Sea Salt (for balance)
2 shakes cinnamon
1/2 cup Unsweetened Applesauce
1/4 cup Unsalted Almond butter
1/2 cup Organic Raisins, Walnuts or/and Coconut flakes
1 cup dark chocolate or carob chips
LOTS of LOVE!
Note: can add 1 ripe banana for extra moist brownies
Heat oven to 350
Mix Maple Syrup, Butter Spread, Vanilla, Eggs, Peanut Butter & Applesauce together. Then toss in the raisins/walnuts & 1/2 cup of the carob chips.
In separate bowl, mix dry ingredients; oat bran, baking powder, salt, cocoa, cinnamon, flax, etc.
Then, as guessed, mix dry ingredients into the wet bowl and spread into greased square pan (Trader Joes has a great spray olive oil) 8x8x2 inch pan, if possible.
Bake for 22 minutes, then turn oven off and add the 2nd half of the carob chips (1/2 cup, although I usually add more) on top of cooked brownies. Close oven and let warm for 1 minute.
Be sure to not leave in too long with chips on top or it will ruin the spread-factor (no fun).
Take out and spread melted carob or dark chocolate chips on top to make icing. Cover to keep moist, then eat when even the slightest bit ready and enjoy!!
Finally, I ask you to take a moment in reply here to offer what your gratitude will be on this Thanksgiving day. Writing is perhaps one of the greatest action tools there is in creating your life experience. Enrolling others in your vision will also help us all to create a Happy Thanksgiving day! And I do hope it is a happy one for you but hope is not required when choice is made. Remember your choice to BE grateful along with your actions today is what will create your reality. You are a powerful creator…choose wisely.
No matter what is happening in the circumstances area of your life, may you create this day as the most incredible Thanksgiving ever. And then perhaps, consider making that choice each and every day going forward, because everyday can be Thanksgiving day. Imagine then, a world where the greater number of us chose gratitude over guilt, love over fear, peace over war etc. etc. etc.
There is much to be grateful for today – how will you choose to express and fulfill that state of beingness? Holding you all in prayerful gratitude – JR
(J.R. Westen, D.D. is a Holistic Health & Spiritual Counselor who has worked and presented side-by-side with Neale Donald Walsch for over a decade. He is passionate about helping individuals move beyond their emotional and spiritual challenges, transforming breakdowns into breakthroughs. His coaching provides practical wisdom and guidance that can be immediately incorporated to shift one’s experience of life. As is true for most impactful teachers, J.R.’s own struggles and triumphs inspired him to find powerful ways of helping others. Sober since June 1, 1986, J.R.’s passion for helping individuals move through intense life challenges drove him to also specialize in Addiction and Grief Recovery. J.R. currently shares his gift of counseling & coaching with individuals from around the world through the Wellness Center, Simply Vibrant, located on Long Island N.Y. In addition, he works with Escondido Sobering Services and serves on the Board of Directors for the Conversations with God Foundation. He can be contacted at JR@theglobalconversation.com, or to book an appointment, write support@simplyvibrant.com.)
